President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

[KaliBaby]

just announced this morning, even I'm a little shocked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8298580.stm

[Gelert]

Bit odd, even came on the day the Americans decided to bomb the moon.

[seasiren]

I saw this on the morning news and fell out of my chair .... after I stopped laughing I managed to get out .... um, how?

[Antonf26]

well fuck.... what for?

[israel]

no big deal - every leader that sneezes gets a nobel peace prize

[thestoatyone]

He does talk a good game, but it seems a little premature giving him a medal before he's actually scored....

[KaliBaby]

no big deal - every leader that sneezes gets a nobel peace prize

yes.

He does talk a good game, but it seems a little premature giving him a medal before he's actually scored....

and yes.

[Gelert]

It may be for rewarding some current progress, in the hope of encouraging him to live up to promises and expectations.

I quite like "If Obama were British":

[ralst]

Someone on the radio (I believe it was a BBC broadcast, actually) said he may have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize simply for not being George Bush.

That's the only explanation that's really made sense so far...

[beforewisdom]

That makes the most sense and it isn't necessarily a slam.

Maybe the non-American world sees things as having been in a situation of a leader having a hostile attitude towards them for the better part of a decade.
Then comes someone who gives off a strong impression of not being about that.

Whether or not that is enough for a Nobel Prize is another question.

[RAZ]

I don't get why they couldn't wait another couple of years (or more) to give him a chance to create a legacy worthy of the peace prize. It's going to make a joke of the Nobel awards if he now does something contradictary to what peace is about. Not entirely unthinkable for an american president.

I heard someone on the radio say just before that next years litterature prize is going to go to someone who hasn't yet written anything but has promised to.

[beforewisdom]

I am still not sure if President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize (yet) but Rachel Maddow makes a great argument for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMJuEOaF84o

[thestoatyone]

That makes the most sense and it isn't necessarily a slam.

Maybe the non-American world sees things as having been in a situation of a leader having a hostile attitude towards them for the better part of a decade.
Then comes someone who gives off a strong impression of not being about that.

Whether or not that is enough for a Nobel Prize is another question.

This is what it looks like to me. Sad really.

Still Obama is doing a greatjob of the kind of "speak softly, have big stick" that used to be the trademark of American diplomacy wayyyyy back.

[RAZ]

Still Obama is doing a greatjob of the kind of "speak softly, have big stick" that used to be the trademark of American diplomacy wayyyyy back.

Do you have proof of his "big stick" or are you just assuming that being black he must have one?

[kallefs]

Still Obama is doing a greatjob of the kind of "speak softly, have big stick" that used to be the trademark of American diplomacy wayyyyy back.

Im not sure gunboat diplomacy was so great for the receiving part though.